We are here for you
by MoeM
Summary: Season 7 theory. Kelly and Stella help Casey through some difficult times
1. Chapter 1

Since he had come home to Stella's after the trial with Renee two days ago, he and Stella had spent most of their time in her apartment. After the last couple of weeks, they really needed some time to just be together. He quite happily would have spent more days like that. But, if the trial was two days ago, that would mean that today they had shift again.

He moaned, not wanting to wake up yet. As he finally decided to open his eyes, confusion washed over him. This wasn't Stella's apartment and this definitely wasn't his room. He was quick to remember that last night they had decided to come back to Kelly's apparent, because he needed a change of clothes before the start of shift. After dinner and a movie, they had ended up in Stella's old room. Since Stella had left, he hadn't set foot into that room. The absence of her stuff made the room feel foreign to him. Luckily, she was there now to make up for that feeling.

Turning over to look at her, he could see that Stella was still fast asleep besides him. A quick glance at the clock alarmed him that they would have to hurry if they wanted to have a decent breakfast before they had to leave. He slowly rolled over to her. He placed a kiss in her neck, hoping that that would be enough to wake her, although he knew how deep she could sleep sometimes. The only response that he got out of her with that was a soft sigh. It didn't surprise him. He brushed some of her wild curls out of her face and whispered:

"Stella, I'm going to hop in to the shower and then make us some breakfast. Get some more sleep."

The small smile that appeared on her face and a soft "mkay" confirmed to him that she at least had heard what he had said. Satisfied, he made his way to the shower adjacent to Stella's old room, not bothering to walk all the way to this own.

Stella's additional minutes in bed didn't last long, though. As soon as Kelly had set foot in the shower, there was a knock at the door.

"Kelly, you open it." She pulled the sheets over her head.

No answer.

She pulled the sheets back down again and slightly sat up.

"Kelly!" she said louder.

There was more knocking on the door.

"yeah, yeah. I'm coming".

She let out a frustrated sigh and dragged herself out of bed. Who would come to Kelly's apartment this early in the morning?

Opening the door, she was met with a distraught looking figure. The bags under his eye's and the faraway look in his eyes told her that something was up.

"Casey, hey! Is everything alright?"

"Hey" He responded. "Is Kelly here?"

His avoidance of her question together with the lack of comments on her presence at Kelly's apartment, only seem to confirm her feeling.

"Yeah, he is just in the shower. Come on in."

He walked over to the dining room table and slummed into one of the chairs. With his head in his hands, he faced away from her. This didn't seem like a situation for her to be involved in. She decided that it was probably better for Kelly to handle this. So, she opted make some coffee instead.

Luckily for her, Kelly's shower didn't take long. He soon walked, cleanly showered, into the living room as Stella poured the black liquid into three mugs. Completely oblivious to the presence of his friend in the room, he sneaked his arms around Stella and kissed her cheek.

"You know I said that I was making breakfast, right?"

A smile appeared on her face while she instinctively laid her left hand on his arm. Her task was momentarily forgotten.

"We have company" she gestured with her head towards Casey, who still hadn't moved since he had sat down.

"Casey? What are you doing here?" he said as he stared to walk over to him.

There was no response. Kelly put his hand on Casey's shoulder, slightly shaking him.

"Hey man, you okay?"

"She left. She's gone" His reply earned him confused looks from both Kelly and Stella.

"What? Who has left? Dawson?" Answered Kelly as he sat down.

Casey just ignored the question. "We had this fight and now she has left. She's leaving Chicago too."

Although Casey never said her name, it seemed obvious that only something happening with Dawson could have this effect on Casey.

"What do you mean "she's leaving Chicago"?" Stella now joined the conversation as she put the coffee mugs on the table and sat down next to Kelly.

"She is moving to Puerto Rico. She volunteered to help there. She never even told me that she wanted to do that."

"For how long?" Kelly just could not see that things would end between Casey and Gabby. They always seemed to pull through the fights and misunderstandings. He had always seen them as an example of how married life could be for him.

"I don't know. She didn't say. She is leaving to today. I don't know what to do. She won't return any of my calls."

"Look Casey, let me call her." Stella offered. "She would never leave to some other country without saying goodbye to 51. She will talk to me."

Casey just shook his head in agreement.

Kelly didn't like the sight in front of him one bit. He knew what had happened to Casey after Hallie had died. That time Casey had completely lost it. Wanting to prevent anything remotely like happening again, he offered:

"We'll figure this out. I'll call Boden and see what we can do about today, okay?"

"No, I can come to shift today." Casey protested.

"Dude, look at yourself. That's not going to happen. We are here for you, man."


	2. Chapter 2

It took a while for the person on the other side of line to pick up. Stella was getting more worried by the minute. This was so unlike Gabby. But just as she was about to give up, there was a soft "hey" on the other end of the line.

"Thank god you picked up! What is going on? Are you actually leaving?"

"I...ah...yeah...yeah I am."

"Is this because of the fight you had with Casey?"

"How do you know about that?"

"He's here at Kelly's."

"Ah yeah, okay" She avoided to answer the previous question and just remained quiet.

"You know what? How about we talk some more in person? Stella offered. She was probably not going to get much more out of Gabby over the phone anyway.

"Shift is starting soon, so do you think you can stop by the station today?" She continued.

"Stella, I don't think that is a good idea."

"Look, I know it's difficult, but you do not get to leave without saying goodbye to me." She hoped that steering the conversation away from Casey would help to convince Gabby.

"I...Stella...I don't think I can stop by 51 with Matt being there and everybody is just going to ask questions and ..." Gabby trailed off.

"He is not coming in today and you don't actually have to come in to the station. I can meet you outside. I just need to talk to you. Okay?"

Gabby let out a heavy sigh. "Fine. Yes, I'll come by."

"Okay, good. We all care about, you know."

"I know."

"Okay. See you later. "

"Yeah, bye."

Stella ended the call and walked back into the living room where the guys were still sitting. In the time that she had called Gabby, Kelly had convinced Boden to give Matt the shift off. He knew that not working was probably not going to help his friend, but Casey's current state was only going to put people at risk.

"So, Gabby is going to stop by the station. I'll talk to her some more then." Stella stated.

Casey just nodded.

"Uhmm...I have to go to the station now." She directed her words towards Kelly. He took that as a cue to walk over to her.

"Here, just take my car." He said as he handed her the keys. "I'll come in a little later."

He brought her in for a hug and softly kissed her lips. "Thanks for calling" He whispered.

"Yeah" she smiled to him. With that she left for work.

Stella arrived just in time at the station to hear Boden's opening speech. He had not mentioned much by about the circumstances surrounding the absence of Casey, Dawson and Severide. He had merely pointed out that a relief lieutenant was coming for Casey and that Stella had been put on Ambo for the shift. Although she was grateful that not much had been revealed, this also meant that everybody was going to turn to her for answers. So, she made sure she was out of the room before everybody started to ask questions.

She decided to camp out in Kelly's office for the time being. He was not going to mind and it gave her some space to think about her upcoming conversation with Gabby.

However, it only took a half an hour before her hiding place was discovered. The door swung open, revealing Hermann.

"Hey, Kidd, did you get promoted to lieutenant?"

"Ha, I wish." She tried to sound as upbeat as possible.

"So...Severide, Casey and Dawson are not here, and now you are hiding. That is not really going to stop the rumours, you know."

"yeah, I know. I'm just not the person that should be telling everyone."

"Well, if you're done hiding, that relief lieutenant is here and you are gonna want to know who it is."

"Anyone good?"

"Let's just say interesting for now. Just come and see for yourself" He turned and left her alone again.

She was about to do what Hermann had told her, when her phone beeped indicating a text from Gabby saying she was at the station. So, she got up and headed for the parking lot instead. That lieutenant will have to wait for now.

Once there, she gave Gabby a quick hug. Gabby didn't look that much better than what Casey had looked like this morning.

"So, what is this?" Stella started. "Are you really leaving Chicago because of a fight with Casey?"

"Not exactly. But Casey and I...we're just not on the same page right now. With everything that has been going on lately I just need some time, I think."

"Did you tell him why you're going?"

"No"

"I kind of was a rushed decision, wasn't it?"

"Yes, it was" she sighed. "I was still really mad at Casey."

"I figured something like that was going on."

"But, I still think I would be good if we have some time apart. And, it's really good offer. I'll be helping a lot of people and I'm not going to be there forever." Gabby sounded desperate, as if she still needed to convince herself.

"Well, I'm not here to talk you out of it. But if you're really going, you need to talk to Casey. He needs to know. The sooner you talk to him, the better"

Stella was about to add more to that, but their conversation was cut short by the siren going off.

"Truck 81, ambulance 61. Car accident, 1733 West Madison Street."

"Gabby, just go and talk to him now. He's at Kelly's apartment." Stella said while giving Gabby a hug, irritated she didn't had more time to talk to her.

Just before hopping into the ambo, she texted a quick message to Kelly.

 _I talked to her. I think she's coming over, but I'm not sure. XX_


	3. Chapter 3

Since Stella had left for work, not many words had been spoken between the two guys. Kelly had decided not to tell Casey about the text from Stella telling him there was a possibility of Gabby stopping by. He didn't want to get Casey's hopes up. He knew Gabby. She could be stubborn. If she had decided she wasn't going to speak to Casey before she left, then probably nobody could talk her out of it. But he was proven wrong by a soft knock at the door. On the other side of that same door, Kelly found an unusually insecure Gabby.

"Stella said that Matt was here." She didn't look at Kelly. Instead she was looking into the apartment, trying to see if the man in question was actually there.

"Yes, come in." Kelly told her. He stepped away to give her access, but she didn't move much further than a few steps.

As soon as Matt had heard her voice, he had gotten up from his chair at the dining room table.

"Hey" Casey greeted Gabby. He remained standing in the same spot, not really knowing what to do.

"Hey" Gabby replied while staying at her place at the door.

"I'll leave you two alone." Kelly said, trying to break the tension. "If you two need anything, just call me. There is a spare key in one of the kitchen draws." With that he left the pair to their own devices.

Kelly's actions did have the effect that he wanted. It broke the pair out of there staring contest. Casey walked over to her and took her hands in his.

"Just be honest with me. Why are you leaving?" He asked her quietly.

"It just that..." She said while looking at the floor. "...losing the baby, and Louie, and now hearing that..." She trailed off trying to regain her composure.

She sighed heavily and continued with a clear tremble in her voice "...hearing how getting pregnant might not be an option for us...it's just too much."

Tears were now slowly making it down her face.

"I know" Casey said, pulling her in for hug which Gabby graciously accepted."I know it is." He gently stroked her back to comfort her.

He would have wanted them to stand like that for longer, but he also knew that they needed to continue to talk about this.

"But we can figure this out together. Just stay here in Chicago with me." That had the effect he was afraid off. She stepped out of his arms.

"Matt...I really need some time away. Maybe sometime apart will be good for us. It will give us both time to decide what we actually want."

"Gabby, it is not like we will just be taking a break. You will be thousands of miles away." He slightly raise his voice, despite that he knew very well it would not help his cause.

"But we can still talk to each other. That doesn't change." She tried to convince him.

"Yeah that is not really the same." She didn't respond to that.

"I'm not going to talk you out of this, am I?" He continued

"I need this Matt"

"How long will you be gone?"

"The initial assessment of the situation there is probably going to take a month. Then I'm going to report back to the CFD, so depends on that if I'm going to go back or how long I'll be staying there."

"Okay" was his only reply.

"I still love you. You know that right?" That statement made Casey bring Gabby back into his arms.

"Yeah" He said, while kissing the top of her head. "This is going to be hard."

"I know"

"Can we at least spend this last day together? Boden gave me the shift off" He offered.

This brought a small smile to Gabby's face.

"Yeah, I'd like that"

In the mean time, Kelly had arrived back at the station. He had hoped that Stella would be there, but truck and ambo were still working at the scene of a car accident. He was greeted by Capp and Cruz sitting at the squad table. He made small talk for a couple of minutes before he headed to his office. He gave them the excuse that there was the paperwork piling up on his desk. He could see that the guys didn't really believe them, but he didn't care. He just wanted to be in his office before the rest arrived at the station.

Soon enough he heard the station fill with the noise of his colleagues returning. It didn't take long before Stella walked into his office.

She closed the door behind her and asked: "How is Casey?"

"I don't really know. I left after Gabby arrived and I haven't heard from him since"

"Do you think she will actually go?"

"Knowing her? probably yes."

"Yeah, I was thinking the same."

His phone on his desk buzzed shortly. Kelly picked it hoping that it would be a message from Casey.

 _Me and Gabby are going to spend the day together. Locked the door behind us. Thanks man._

"Here, you have to read this" Kelly said as he handed over the phone to Stella with a smile.

"Well that is good news. At least they are not fighting anymore." She said after reading the message.

"Yes, thanks to you." You could see how proud Kelly was of her by the smile on this face as he pulled her on to his lap.

"Does this mean you'll be making me that breakfast that you promised me this morning?"

"You know that it is almost 11 o'clock, right?"

"Yeah, you're right. Too late for breakfast. Maybe you can thank me in some other way?" She asked playfully.

"I like where this is going." He kissed her and stood up with her in his arms. He carefully placed her on the bed. But their make out session was soon interrupted by three loud bangs on the door.

"Lieutenant Severide, Boden wants to see you in his office." It was the voice of Connie.

They just could not catch a break in this house.


End file.
